WASHINGTON • A senior Amazon executive has disputed claims raised by US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that the company's workers face "dehumanising conditions", and invited her to take a tour of the firm's facilities.

The newly elected progressive Democrat was an outspoken critic of plans to locate Amazon's second headquarters in a New York City neighbourhood near her congressional district. Ms Ocasio-Cortez asked on Twitter if Amazon's culture of "strict performance" is why its "workers have to urinate in bottles & work while on food stamps to meet 'targets'?" She added: "Performance shouldn't come at the cost of dehumanising conditions."

She cited a Newsweek story last September that raised those claims.

Mr Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice-president of worldwide operations, responded on Twitter on Friday that the claims "simply aren't true. We are proud of our jobs with excellent pay ($15 min), benefits from day 1 & lots of other benefits like our Career Choice pre-paid educational programs".

He invited her to take a tour of Amazon's operations. A spokesman for Ms Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to a request for comment.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez was among progressive New York Democrats who objected to the US$2.8 billion (S$3.8 billion) in incentives from the city and New York state to woo Amazon to build a new headquarters in Queens. Amazon abruptly cancelled the plan on Thursday.

"When the community wanted to negotiate, Amazon said 'all or nothing'. They bailed when they didn't get 100% of what they wanted," Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

"Google came into NYC just fine. Amazon wanted to be Foxconn."

Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology won US$4 billion in state and local incentives from Wisconsin in exchange for a promise to build a US$10 billion development. It said this month it would still build a factory in Wisconsin even as it shifts more of the focus of the investment away from manufacturing.

REUTERS